(Thanks Paul Tetrault, via Mitch Goldstein).

Berlin, Germany

Storytelling giant Christoph Niemann never disappoints…

(Thanks to neighbour Pat for the quotable, original source unknown).

(-: original image source unknown)

Odd as it may seem…

Someone figured out that Dolly Parton’s hit song “Jolene” (from her 1973 album with the same name) sounds unexpectedly good when slowed down from 45 rpm to 33 rpm. Parton has said the inspiration for this song came from a redheaded bank teller who she believed charmed her husband… (ear-worm warning).

My kid brother, John Paul Peters, is a music producer and sound engineer. Here’s his explanation:

“Dolly Parton has a very short throat. Her vocal sounds quite nasal by any standards and so when you drop the pitch and speed of the song it sounds like a guy would sound naturally. Usually, when you drop the speed and pitch of the song it sounds unnaturally deep, but, since Dolly Parton has such a small throat and quick vibrato, her texture works fine and she actually sounds plausibly male!”

Click here or on the image to listen; click here to download an MP3 file.

(source)

(original image source unknown)

(original source unknown, but remarkably cogent)

—Arabic proverb

(image origin unknown)

—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach